Log Lines

log-line (n): a brief summary of a written work that outlines plot and contains a hook to stimulate interest

Here are mine:


Two for the Road: Screenplay/Comedy
     When Margie Green grows tired of her abusive husband and decides to leave her life and rob a bank to survive, she doesn’t realize Stewart Snyder is robbing the bank at the same time. Forced to flee together, the two wind up evading the authorities, along with Stewart’s psycho cop of an ex-girlfriend and Margie’s husband.

Surviving San Francisco: Screenplay/Comedy
     Twenty-three year old Leah Newland takes her big dreams and leaves the comforts of her parents’ Zion, Illinois home for the freedom of San Francisco. Upon her arrival, she is met with countless obstacles, including an obstinate and single veterinarian, which make her question her choice to move away at all.

Outrageous Adventure (with Jennifer Salerno): Screenplay/Comedy
     What happens when seven inept people are led by an equally inept tour guide into the Grand Canyon? Will they survive the elements? Better yet, will they survive one another?

Outcast: YA Novel
     As I reached my locker, fuchsia and tangerine marker screamed to me from across the hallway. “Loser” in bright, bold letters decorated the metal door. Students gathered around to stare at it as though it was an original Picasso. My cheeks flushed with humiliation. Though the books and supplies I needed for the day resided in that locker, I refused to approach it. The entire audience gawked at me, knowing the label was mine.

Fractured: Contemporary Novel
     “How do you feel?” Lloyd stops for a moment to ask. The wind skims the fronds of the palm trees, cactus wrens bob through the sky, and people continue to streak through life as if nothing ever happened. How can everything still be in motion after what took place in there? How can Lloyd’s mouth still be moving, but the words coming from it hold no meaning for me? How do I feel? I feel carved out like a jack-o-lantern, hollow and empty. That is how I feel.

The Alchemy Wheel: Contemporary Novel
     When nineteen-year-old Natalie Kirkland, a young woman with a promising future, strikes and kills forty-three-year-old Gordon O’Neil on a darkened stretch of highway and flees the scene, her life changes forever. Only two other people share her secret: her boyfriend, Andrew Lohse, and the silent witness across the highway. Though haunted by guilt, Natalie takes measures to put the incident behind her. But her self-reproach only intensifies once her life begins to tangle with Gordon’s through an accidental friendship with his sixteen-year-old son, Michael, and a series of coincidental events that draws their two lives together.

Superstition Gold (working title): YA Novel
     Ellie’s mom walked out on her a few years ago, and she refuses to believe her mom won’t come back. To make matters worse, her dad is marrying another woman and her best friend Kyle dumped her for cheerleader Tiffany Sheldon. But when Ellie meets quirky Alexander and learns about his map, his quest, and his background, will she finally be able to heal?

Our Life on the Road (working title): Nonfiction
     In 2006, we sold our house, quit our jobs, and purchased an RV. On day five of the trip, I discovered I was pregnant with no maternity coverage. Set against the backdrop of the national parks, the book outlines our physical and emotional journeys, which were intensified by the birth of our youngest son and his unexpected and usually-fatal Trisomy 18 diagnosis.